Pine Hill Plantation
Encyclopedia
Leon County, Florida
Leon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
touching the southeast arm of Lake Iamonia
Lake Iamonia, Florida
Lake Iamonia is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States created during the Pleistocene epoch.-Forming Iamonia:...
established by Dr. Edward Bradford.
Location
Adjacent plantations:- Oaklawn Plantation in the northeast and southwest
- Horseshoe PlantationHorseshoe PlantationHorseshoe Plantation is an cotton plantation located in northern Leon County, Florida and established around 1840 by Dr. Edward Bradford, a planter from Enfield, North Carolina.It is currently owned and maintained by Frederic C. Hamilton. Mr...
to the north.
Pine Hill's plantation house was located north of Oaklawn Plantation home on Thomasville Road.
Today the developments of Killearn Lakes Plantation, large private homes, and several commercial interests are on Pine Hill. The area is known as Bradfordville
Bradfordville, Florida
Bradfordville is an unincorporated community in northern Leon County, Florida, United States. It is north of Tallahassee and south of the Florida/Georgia state line by at the intersection of US 319 and County Road 0342 . Elevation is 237 feet .- Geography :Bradfordville has rolling hills and...
.
Plantation specifics
- Improved Land: 1500 acre (607 ha)
- Unimproved Land: 1770 acre (716.3 ha)
- Cash value of plantation: $United States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
28,000 - Cash value of farm implements/machinery: $1500
- Cash value of farm animals: $5000
- Number of slaves: 130
- Bushels of corn: 4000
- Bales of cotton: 225
During March of 1857 the "black measles" hit Pine Hill killing several people.
Pine Hill was situated amid rolling hills and green forests, with little streams that fed one of the nearby lakes. The plantation had a large stately mansion painted green and white and which stood in a grove of pines. The mansion was surrounded by gardens of roses and a variety of shrubbery as well as lawns. Thoroughbred Kentucky horses, cows from Alderney
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
and Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
grazed on some land. To the east of the mansion were the slaves' cabins. The plantation also had a 24 foot, one room business office with several windows and a fireplace used by Dr. Bradford. This office also served as a hospital for the sick and wounded Confederate
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
soldiers.
The owner
Dr. Edward Bradford was born August 2, 1798 and was a descendant of Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
. As a planter, Edward, along with his brothers, is said to have been among the more progressive agriculturalists and more sincerely paternalistic (in the best sense) slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
masters. Edward Bradford took turns with his brothers, Richard, Thomas and William in hosting an annual holiday celebration, for the slave populations of Water Oak Plantation
Water Oak Plantation
Water Oak Plantation was a was a small cotton plantation of located in northern Leon County, Florida, USA established by Richard Bradford.- Location :Water Oak was located in the general area of Bradfordville.Adjacent plantations:...
, Walnut Hill Plantation
Walnut Hill Plantation
Walnut Hill Plantation was a small cotton plantation of located in northern Leon County, Florida, USA owned by Thomas Anderson Bradford.-Location:...
, and Edgewood Plantation
Edgewood Plantation
Edgewood Plantation was a small cotton plantation of 1840 acres located in northern Leon County, Florida, USA owned by Dr. William Bradford.- Location :...
every 4th of July. This included a massive barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
and, when held at Water Oak, fishing parties on Lake Iamonia. No whites were allowed to partake of or interfere with these festivities. Records from 1840-1866 show transactions with commission merchants and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
cotton brokers evidence that a prosperous business was transacted at Pine Hill.http://www.fsu.edu/~speccoll/bradford/bradcoll.htm
Dr. Edward Bradford was a signee to the Southern Rights Association of Centreville District on secession from the Union for "the protection of Southern interests and the vindication of Southern rights to preserve and protect the Constitution in its purity as the basis of Federal compact, and the only foundation on which the Union of the States was made, or on which that Union should be preserved."http://fulltext.fcla.edu/DLData/CF/FullText/fhq_4_2.txt
Dr. Edward Bradford would go on to establish Horseshoe Plantation
Horseshoe Plantation
Horseshoe Plantation is an cotton plantation located in northern Leon County, Florida and established around 1840 by Dr. Edward Bradford, a planter from Enfield, North Carolina.It is currently owned and maintained by Frederic C. Hamilton. Mr...
east of Lake Iamonia
Lake Iamonia, Florida
Lake Iamonia is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States created during the Pleistocene epoch.-Forming Iamonia:...
. Edward Bradford died in 1871. This area of plantations would later be known as Bradfordville
Bradfordville, Florida
Bradfordville is an unincorporated community in northern Leon County, Florida, United States. It is north of Tallahassee and south of the Florida/Georgia state line by at the intersection of US 319 and County Road 0342 . Elevation is 237 feet .- Geography :Bradfordville has rolling hills and...
.